Open Access (OA) is the free access to articles published in scholarly journals. Its literature is digital and usually free of copyright (it just needs author’s consent) which is perfect for readers who just want to take a look at those articles without paying. It may be compared to Open Content, but it is not exactly the same, as in Open Content readers are usually able to change what it is written, but not in this case, where articles remain untouched.
Open Access can be provided in two different ways:
- Green OA: Authors provide Open Access to their already published articles, by making their own e-prints free for all.
- Gold OA: Authors provide immediate Open Access to all of their articles by publishing them in an open access journal.
Although OA is free to readers, it is not, as we may believe, free for producers. As we can read in the Budapest Open Access Initiative FAQ page, ”Free is ambiguous. We mean free for readers, not free for producers. We know that open-access literature is not free (without cost) to produce. But that does not foreclose the possibility of making it free of charge (without price) for readers and users.”
So, if it is free for readers but not for producers, why would someone want to publish their article using Open Access? Well, probably because money is not everything. Producers might in some way lose money every time they publish something, but the impact of that published article will be much bigger, and that is sometimes more important than money. Readers obviously prefer free articles, especially if they are doing some kind of research and they need to take a look at many articles to compare which one their prefer or simply to collect information from different sources. If they have to pay for one article, they might decide not to buy it and look for the information in another place, but they will certainly take a look if it is cost-free. This means that more people will read an article in an open access journal, which makes easier for the author to become popular.
Also, publishing an article in an open access journal is still cheaper than publishing it in a traditional scientific journal, as authors pay about $1,000 per article in an open access journal and $20,000 for an annual subscription for a traditional one. So, authors will have to choose which method they prefer.
References:
- Open Access (publishing) (21:33, November 18, 2010). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18.44, November 22, 201o, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access_(publishing)
- Citation Advantage of Open Access Articles (2006). In Plos Biology. Retrieved 19.21, November 22, 2010, from: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040157#s2
- Open Access overview (November 6, 2010). In earlham.edu. Retrieved 19.50, November 22, 2010, from: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm
- Budapest Open Access Initiative: Frequently Asked Questions (August 4, 2010). In earlham.edu. Retrieved 20.04, November 22, 2010, from: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#wishfulthinking
- Parallel universes: open access and open source (February 22, 2006). In LWN.net. Retrieved 20.12, November 22, 2010, from: http://lwn.net/Articles/172781/
- What is Open Access?. In E-prints. Retrieved 20.16, November 22, 2010, from: http://1ajgarci.wordpress.com/page/2/
